There's Losing And There's LOSING!!!!!

• Cubs 7-Brewers 6:

I was watching the Cubs and the Brewers on and off for much of the afternoon and as the

Brewers built a 6-2 lead, I thought to myself in a slightly maudlin fashion, I hope the Cubs and Braves play as poorly and as generously against the Mets over the next week as they have against the Brewers and Phillies.
After Brewers closer Salomon Torres recorded the second out of the bottom of the ninth inning by inducing Derrek Lee to fly out to right fielder Corey Hart, I changed the channel to the YES Network to watch Mike Francesa of Mike'd Up/Francesa on the FAN (formerly Mike and the Mad Dog) interviewing Yankees manager Joe Girardi; Francesa planned to ask Girardi about the

rumblings in Yankeeland that several veteran players were unhappy with Girardi's leadership. I momentarily flipped back to channel 433 to see if the game was over and there was the MLB Extra Innings insignia with the words "Good Night" underneath. Figuring the game was over and the

Brewers had won, I turned back to YES and I half-attentively watched the TV simulcast as I listened to the interview and glanced at the screen in time to see the score-crawl run across the bottom and saw Brewers 6-Cubs 6 (Bot. 9). Puzzled, I quickly turned the channel back to 433 and realized that the game was actually on 432. Flipping back there, I saw Geovany Soto receiving enthusiastic congratulations in the dugout after his game-tying three-run homer. Shaking my head in disbelief, I watched the rest of the game.
Long story short, after both teams squandered golden opportunities to score (especially

the Brewers who had runners on second and third with no one out against Cubs closer Kerry Wood in the top of the twelfth, only to see Wood wriggle out of the jam with two ground balls and a strikeout), the Cubs won the game in the bottom of the twelfth on a game-winning single by Lee. This wasn't just a loss for the Brewers; this was a loss that was a signal for the team to just pack it in and try again next year.
The most unbelievable thing about this isn't the comeback; nor is it that Torres managed to blow a four-run lead with two outs and no one on in the bottom of the ninth inning. The most unbelievable thing is that if the Brewers were trying to blow a game in this fashion, they couldn't do it. If Torres took the ball and started lofting it underhanded in slow-pitch softball style, the odds are that the Cubs hitters would either line the lollipop tosses right at someone or pop it

up. To blow a game this way by giving up four straight hits, the last of which landing in the left-field bleachers is almost unfathomable. And for this reason, the Brewers are just about done with little or no hope to recover from their tailspin ruining what had promised to be a historic season for a long suffering franchise. They have a new manager in Dale Sveum, but are yielding the same results and this game is prime reason to give the team last rites because they're done.

• At least Curt Schilling's earning his $8 million for 2008 with his mouth:

As tiresome as he is, Curt Schilling is still making headlines with his pompous rants. Now he's going off on Manny Ramirez and Manny's power play to get himself out of Boston----ESPN Story. Schilling has a right to his opinion, but as he rips Manny and anoints

himself as defender for the Red Sox clubhouse, one has to wonder whether Manny's presence or Schilling's presence served as a greater distraction on the whole over the years that the two played in Boston. My guess is that despite Manny's tantrums and bizarre behaviors, teammates probably tired more of Schilling's flapping mouth than anything Manny ever did. And for Schilling, protector of

all that is holy and hard core republican only when it suits him, to go on a radio show and engage in this type of rant ably assisted by two players----Brian Daubach and Lou Merloni----who were replacement players during the strike of 1995, epitomizes Schilling's self-important and oblivious hypocrisy more than anything else he's said or done (at least in the last several days...that we know of, anyway).

More On The Yankees And Other Stories

• Red Sox 7-Yankees 0 (Part II):

Manager Joe Girardi closed the clubhouse doors for a half hour as he lit into his team for their lackadaisical play; we'll know at the end of this weekend whether or not it did any good

(or will be perceived to have done any good, anyway). There's no doubt that the team deserved a tongue lashing after the way they've played this week, but what I'm wondering is how far Girardi is able to go in unloading on his team and how much the players----many former teammates of the manager and in the same age group----are going to take.
The players know he's the manager and that the relationship between player and teammate and player and manager must be at least slightly different, but if he really starts letting them have it, how long before a guy like Alex Rodriguez (for example) just rolls his eyes and uses the logic of "who are you to be telling me anything?" It's a fine line that a contemporary has to take when he essentially becomes the boss. Girardi is a solid enough strategic manager and he does have some presence, but I would think that Joe Torre tearing paint off the walls in screaming at his slumbering players would have more of an impact than Girardi doing it would just because Girardi's such a young and inexperienced manager.

Michael Kay was at it again with the nonsense of "Jason Varitek wants a Jorge Posada-type contract"; you have to give Kay credit in that he latches onto one thing and doesn't start changing his tune months later even if what he says was ridiculous when he first said it and continues to be ridiculous. I'm not going into repeated detail on this because I talked about it earlier----Does Michael Kay Listen To Himself When He Speaks? 4/16/08----and the gist remains the same almost verbatim.

There's another story about Brian Cashman's contract in the NY Times----Story----and it's implying that the deal is about fait accompli that Cashman is going to return and I'm not so

sure. The longer this drags out and the combination of things----change in ownership, struggles on the field, leaving the team with a young nucleus and the possibility of moving onto a less stressful environment----make it at least a decent chance that Cashman might leave. Add in that there are going to be attractive jobs definitely open----Philadelphia and Seattle----and jobs probably open----Washington and Toronto, and Cashman may tell the Steinbrenners that

enough's enough and leave. The one I would keep an eye on is in Washington because it's a job that any baseball person in his right mind should want. I've said this before and I'll say it again: if an executive is able to bring a championship contending team to the Washington DC area, the world (literally) could be his. Cashman's calculating enough to take that into consideration and might want to take the opportunity if it's presented and it very well might be.

• Diamondbacks 6-Brewers 5:

I opened my big mouth about Salomon Torres and the possibility of the Brewers closer

making the All Star team because he solidified the role and possibly saved the manager's job and the team from an under .500 season and he blows a game a couple of hours later. In all fairness, no closer is going to enter a ninth inning with his team leading by five runs and expect to have to record a save; it's part of the job description for a closer to be ready at all times, but even Hall of Fame closers like Mariano Rivera aren't going to expect their teams to blow a lead that fast. Torres blew the game, but it may have been more of a mental hiccup than a physical one.

• Dodgers 5-Astros 2:
  

Even with all the injuries and problems scoring runs the Dodgers have endured, they're starting to get their veterans back and Chad Billingsley is beginning to look like the ace his stuff dictates he could be. The Diamondbacks have slumped and it's allowed the Dodgers to heal without worrying about getting buried in the playoff race and I think, after the All Star break, they're going to take off.

• Mark Grudzielanek or Luis Castillo----20/20 hindsight:

I hadn't even thought of Luis Castillo as an option at second base for the Mets last season when they were openly in the market for a replacement for the injured Jose Valentin; I preferred Mark Grudzielanek and they presumably could have gotten him for a couple of prospects. The argument that the Mets would likely have made for

Castillo is that he's (supposedly) five years younger than Grudzielanek, but Grudzielanek is the far better player; now that Castillo's on the disabled list and Grudzielanek is having such a fine year at the plate and is a Gold Glove winning second baseman, are the Mets having second thoughts about A) going after Castillo over Grudzielanek; and B) signing Castillo to a long-term extension? I don't think they need to be told now that they made a mistake.

Was It Hank Or Was It The Rangers Bullpen?

• Yankees 18-Rangers 7:

Hank Steinbrenner will undoubtedly think that his demands for more offense had something to do with the 18 runs the Yankees scored, but it had more to do with the Rangers

bullpen than any fear the players had of the Baby Boss. I kept flipping back and forth from this game to the other games and that seventh inning was interminable. The main culprit out of the Rangers bullpen was converted outfielder Warner Madrigal. Madrigal was all over the place and looked lost, which considering he's only been pitching since 2006, is completely understandable. For a Yankees offense that had been so terrible recently, beggars can't be choosers, but if Hank or anyone else thinks that this is the opening to the floodgates of the Yankees offensive powerhouse, they should probably think again. A good question would be why Rangers manager Ron Washington chose to put Madrigal in that situation with a 7-6 lead and a pretty good chance of sweeping the Yankees.

• Scott Rolen or Troy Glaus?

Who would the Blue Jays rather have right now? Would they have been better off keeping a

motivated Troy Glaus, who has a player option at the end of this year and is desperate to produce to get another, perhaps his last, big contract? Or would they rather have Scott Rolen,

who (along with the years remaining on his bloated contract) was supposed to bring "intangibles" and "hard-nosed play" but has only brought his declining production and injuries?
Glaus is hitting well and if he opts out of his contract may be putting himself on the Mets radar as a possible reasonably priced option at first base next year. Rolen plays hard, there's no question about that, but the injuries have taken their toll on his performance and the Blue Jays can't be happy with what he's providing for them in relation to Glaus with the contract obligations factored in. This was not a smart trade for the Blue Jays in part because they did the Cardinals a favor by getting Rolen out of Tony La Russa's sight and in part because he's a shell of what he once was, but they'll be paying him a lot of money in the coming years.

• Rockies 8-Padres 1:

I guess the Padres reached their run quota for the week on Monday when they scored 15

and decided to put the bats away. All kidding aside, they'd better start making their moves quickly because Randy Wolf has been getting blasted and the veterans for whom they might get some value----Brian Giles, Greg Maddux, Trevor Hoffman----are aging and are seeing their skills decline by the day. This season is lost and not dealing the dead weight (Khalil Greene included) is going to hinder the organization even more than they're stinginess and insistence on going with shaky veterans has hindered them already.

• Phillies 7-Braves 3:

Amid all the ridicule directed towards the Mets, the Braves have been just as bad and as unlucky in their veteran players health and free agent signings. It's an interesting question as to what they're going to do because they're sort of contenders in a league where everyone's one hot streak away from leaping into first place, but they, like the Mets, don't look very impressive.
They're not going to be able to retain Mark Teixeira and they have to start thinking about

what the team might look like without John Smoltz and Tom Glavine (although Glavine has been on the mound so rarely this year that it's like he never even returned). It would take some guts to do it, but would the Braves, if they continue on their current road, listen to offers for Tim Hudson? It looks bleak and with the core of the team either injury-prone (Chipper Jones); injured (Glavine and Smoltz); underachieving (Jeff Francouer); and playing with one eye on free agency (Teixeira), they might have to strongly consider moving forward and replenishing the organization rather than playing for a hopeless cause. The talent just may not be there for the Braves.

• Brewers 4-Diamondbacks 3:

For the way he's saved their season, Salomon Torres deserves consideration for the All Star game. Without him solidifying the closer's role, the Brewers may already have begun a sell-off and be playing for a new manager.

The "Boost" From A Managerial Change

• Is it the new manager or is it the stability?

The Mets have played and looked much better and more relaxed under Jerry Manuel than

they did under Willie Randolph since at least the middle of last season and Manuel is going to receive credit for that with his different take on running his ballclub, but is that fair? Is the improvement a function of the new manager or is it that the players wanted some finality and an end to answering the non-stop questions about the manager's job security if they lose one or two games?
There have been many cases where a team just wanted a manager out of their sight because they couldn't stand him and subsequently went on a tear. It happened twice with former Astros and Blue Jays manager Jimy Williams; with the Marlins when they dumped Jeff Torborg; and with the Red Sox when they fired John McNamara. While it's easy to give credit to the successors----Cito Gaston and Phil Garner replacing Williams;

Jack McKeon replacing Torborg; and Joe Morgan (the veteran New Englander, not the inept broadcaster) in replacing McNamara----it's not that easy to automatically think that the new manager was the reason things turned around.
The perception of playing for a manager's job on a nightly basis can't be easy. Most managerial changes don't just come out of the blue; there's usually a series of leaks to the newspapers mentioning that it's possible (sometimes that's done to gauge the temperature of the situation, the fans and the players and see how they're going to react); many times management wants to get a feel as to whether or not the change is actually going to do any good on the field.
Amid all of that, even the Mets players who didn't particularly like Randolph or pitching coach Rick Peterson and wouldn't have minded them being gone don't want to be seen as responsible for getting the manager and pitching coach fired. It wasn't necessarily that the

players had simply stopped performing for Randolph on purpose, but it can't be easy for a reliever to come jogging in from the bullpen with runners on base and a one-run lead and all the factors he has to worry about in that situation to be thinking that if he doesn't do the job, he's getting someone fired as well. It gets to a point where even the wins are tinged with the repeated questions about the status of the manager; once the idea of a change is in the air, it's going to be there and fall on the players until the matter is resolved.
There's no question that Randolph had lost his effectiveness as a manager, and if the team turns things around Manuel is going to get the credit, but it might have little to do with what he does as the manager and more to do with the players not having to worry about every loss possibly resulting in the manager getting fired.

• Brewers 7-Orioles 3:

The Brewers turnaround has a great deal to do with Prince Fielder finally hitting some home runs, but it also has a lot to do with Salomon Torres taking over as the closer and not coughing up the games as Eric Gagne was. Russell Branyan has provided a big boost as well, but he's only been back in the big leagues for three weeks; time will tell whether this is

just an opportune hot streak for a veteran professional player or if he's found his niche in Milwaukee. If I had to guess, I'd say Branyan's going to come back to earth sooner rather than later.
The Brewers took a reasonable chance on Gagne last winter signing him to a one-year deal hoping that a return to the National League would revert the pitcher into what he was with the Dodgers and with the Rangers early last season. Instead, they got the pitcher who imploded for the Red Sox on a nightly basis. They turned to the quirky veteran Torres out of desperation more than anything else and, in a prime example of how finding a successful closer is a flip of the coin, Torres has been excellent. For a guy who was a closer off-and-on for the past few seasons and lost the job as a member of the woeful Pirates last year and also had some bizarre incidents in his career (walking away from the game for five years, etc.), Torres might be remembered as the man who saved the Brewers from 78-win season and a major restructuring. The Brewers are still within striking distance of the NL Central and right in the middle of the Wild Card race. If they hit as they're capable, Ben Sheets stays healthy and Torres continues to perform as he has, they could hang around in both races for the duration and that's a far cry from scanning the want-ads for a closer who wouldn't blow games they should be winning.

• Twins 5-Diamondbacks 3:

The expectations for the Diamondbacks were at least as high as that of the Mets this season, but they find themselves with an almost identical record and saved by the unexpected wasteland that the NL West has become. With a starting rotation fronted by two

legitimate aces; a deep and diverse bullpen; and a lineup that, despite it's youth, should be a force, the Diamondbacks find themselves at 39-37 and stumbling along despite hanging onto first place.
Brandon Webb has been getting raked around so regularly that I would be concerned about the pitcher's health; granted it would've been impossible for him to continue pitching shutouts every night, but he's gotten knocked around in three of his last five starts; it could be a mid-season slump, but it's not something to ignore out of hand. Their rotation, which was supposed to be a strength, is looking short. Dan Haren has been everything advertised, but Micah Owings got off to a great start and has been pretty much terrible since late April; Randy Johnson has been more bad than good; and Doug Davis, for all the courage he's shown in coming back from thyroid cancer, is a back of the rotation starter who can't be counted on to pick up for the top of the rotation.
Out of the Moneyball school, Josh Byrnes is probably the closest GM to Billy Beane in

terms of temperament, playing his cards close to the vest and making decisive moves. Even though they're in first place, this could mean one of two things: 1) Bob Melvin might be in trouble if they continue sleepwalking; or 2) a big trade is going to be made to shake things up. I don't think Melvin deserves to be fired (for what that's worth), so I would think that Byrnes is scouring the trade market and other teams in need to make a quick and decisive strike to loosen the cobwebs.

• Tigers 5-Padres 3:

I'm aware of the payroll disparity between the Padres and the Mariners and why the Mariners are a laughingstock because they look like they're going to lose 100 games after being a trendy pick to win the AL West, but the Padres expectations were higher in many

circles than the Mariners; the payroll shouldn't factor in if the Padres were taking credit for being smart and frugal while being almost as bad. No one seems to be flogging the Padres with a similar enthusiasm as they are the Mariners. There's even talk of the Padres crawling back into the race for the division. They're not crawling into any race; the race is tumbling to them and it's not going to last. The Dodgers and Diamondbacks are going to right their ships enough to bury the Padres, but will anyone notice, or will they continue to protect the "smart" Padres management team, which may not be all that smart after all?